Ya’ll Really Like This Show! Season 3 Premiere of ‘Scandal’ Reels in Historic Ratings

Olivia Pope’s shenanigans debuted at No. 2 right behind The Big Bang Theory and before Grey’s Anatomy — a cushy spot to be in — reeling in 10.5 million viewers, IndieWire announced.

These are the largest figures that Scandal has ever pulled; season one grabbed 7.3 million viewers while season two dipped down to 6.7 million viewers.

It gets better! The ABC drama series was No.1 on social media. On Thursday, the premiere fueled the largest influx of tweets in Scandal history: 712,877 postings about the show on Twitter!

With these stats, some critics — like the writer at Indie Wire — agree that Kerry Washington will remain on screen for a while. “[W]hile I’d posit that the series’ audience comprises heavily of black women, I’m sure there are also quite a few non-black white women (and men) who tune in as well,” the site says. “I won’t be surprised if ABC announces, before the season is over, that Scandal has been renewed for a 4th season, with numbers like this, that only seem to continue to improve.”

Other critics, including an African-American writer at The Washington Post, see Scandal as a twitter sensation—but not award-worthy material. “‘Scandal’ is not brilliant,” the paper says. “It’s a mostly watchable, sometimes painfully acted nighttime soap opera with lots of suspenseful music dubbed over the dramatic bits, and that’s a perfectly acceptable thing for it to be. But Emmy material? Err, folks, are we watching the same thing.”